Florida debuted its new computerized testing system Monday - what could go wrong?
Apparently, plenty.
School districts around the state - including the Pinellas and Hillsborough county districts - have reported problems accessing material online.
"We're experiencing the same delays as all the other districts," said Stephen Hegarty, a communications officer for the Hillsborough district. "It appears to be a simple issue of huge volume. Schools do have the option of shifting to another day. I don't know which, if any, have chosen that route at this time."
Pinellas County has had "intermittent delays at some middle (and) high schools with accessing the FSA computer-based platform, TIDE, used to administer the writing tests," said Melanie Marquez Parra, director of strategic communications for the Pinellas district. "We’ve been informed that the state’s technical support for the FSA is working to resolve this statewide issue."
Parra said some schools reported delays in being able to get the test started and that once the test is started, testing can be completed. Not all of the district's middle and high schools are giving the writing test today.
In Pasco County, New Port Richey's Seven Springs Middle School rescheduled its eighth-grade exam for Wednesday, out of caution. The school was able to complete its sixth- and seventh-grade exams.
“We didn’t want students or teachers to get frazzled or get more frustration from a testing system by getting logged off or not being able to log in," said Principal Chris Dunning, Seven Springs Middle School.
A midday news release from the district said most schools had not experienced significant problems, but some teacher had issues signing onto the AIR testing platform to begin testing. And in some cases, students received an error message that could not be explained.
Citrus County Superintendent Sandra Himmel said only eight of 450 students in her district had issues and they were quickly resolved.
Districts in other parts of the state also reported suspending testing because of difficulties accessing the state website.
"While many students across our state are testing successfully, we have heard from some districts that are experiencing difficulties," the Florida Department of Education said in a statement. "This is a 90-minute test; students have a two-week window, plus a makeup window, to complete the test. Commissioner (Pam) Stewart is looking into any reported issues to determine the cause and will work to immediately resolve it."